


Unpaid Debts

by toesohnoes



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-30
Updated: 2012-10-30
Packaged: 2017-11-17 09:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/550280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toesohnoes/pseuds/toesohnoes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hulk saves Clint's life. Clint isn't pleased about being saved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unpaid Debts

**Author's Note:**

> Written at my [Tumblr](http://toestastegood-fic.tumblr.com/post/31345102845/clints-body-language-is-curled-in-on-itself-as-he).

Clint’s body language is curled in on itself as he sits on the hospital bed. His legs hang over the edge, his feet far from the floor, while his shoulders curve and his head is dropped. Bruce feels like an invader, even standing next to the door, as far away from Clint as the small examination room will allow.

“I’m sure the doctor will be back any second now,” Bruce says, throwing his words into the silent void. Clint barely blinks in response. Bruce wets his lips, and wonders if it might be better to leave the room. The Hulk had found Clint in battle and carried him all the way to the hospital, only letting Bruce transform back after the doctors had taken Clint inside. For all that the Hulk might have saved Clint’s life, Clint doesn’t seem too happy about it. “You look a lot better than you did.”

Clint laughs in a dry huff devoid of amusement. He swallows as if he’s about to say something, but nothing comes forth.

Bruce waits for as long as he can, trying to give Clint space to come up with what he wants to say, but the silence makes his skin crawl. “It’s a miracle you’re alive, really.”

“No,” Clint says. His voice rasps with hollow self-defeat. “Not a miracle. The Hulk saved me.”

“Yeah.” The other guy has a habit of saving all of Bruce’s team-mates, swooping in at just the right moment to save the day. From the inside, Bruce knows that the Hulk is always more aware of Clint’s position in the field than anyone else. He knows why as well. Clearing his throat, he knows that he would never voice those reasons. “Why do I feel like I should apologise?”

Clint looks at him then, dark rings of exhaustion under his eyes and a long collection of scratches and scrapes down one side of his face. “I’m sorry. Thanks,” he says. It sounds as if the words cost him. “I wouldn’t have made it without you.”

Bruce nods. He knows that. He’s getting better at remembering his transformations – so he can remember holding Clint in his arms, carrying him as if he weighed nothing, blood smeared over the Hulk’s green chest. He hadn’t known that the Hulk was capable of panicking.

“It’s… I’m used to watching my own back,” Clint says after Bruce leaves the silence for long enough. “I’m not good at owing anything to anybody.”

Bruce blinks in surprise and rubs the back of his neck. “You don’t owe me anything,” he says in steady bafflement. “The other guy, he…”

“Fine. I owe him.” Clint frowns and leans backwards, rolling his shoulders even though Bruce can see the way it makes him wince. “I owe him my life.”

“He wanted to save you,” Bruce states. There is so much that he wants to say to Clint, so much that he wishes he could explain about how the Hulk and Bruce both feel about him. The words get trapped in his throat. “It’s not a debt you have to pay.”

The door thrusts open and the doctor walks in. Clint’s spine straightens and he closes off again. Bruce withdraws into himself. He knows that they’re not going to talk about this again; unless he prods and pokes at the wound, Clint will never explain to him why he becomes so defensive in the face of vulnerability. Bruce is going to be shut out, just like everybody else.

He stays in the room while the doctor goes through his examination, checking each of the wounds that Clint had received to make sure that the patch-job done on him is holding up. Bruce stands back like a worried spouse and listens as Clint answers questions with the sullen tone of an irritated teenager. Clint doesn’t seem to want any help at all. That doesn’t mean he won’t get it.


End file.
